Thekla McDaniels wrote:There is a song, “fall down as the rain”, that people reading this thread might enjoy. There is a YouTube with beautiful guitar playing but I don’t know how to post that.
Thekla McDaniels wrote:There is a song, “fall down as the rain”, that people reading this thread might enjoy. There is a YouTube with beautiful guitar playing but I don’t know how to post that.
Just click on the URL band of the Youtube video and it will turn blue, Thekla [cool name!!] Then hold down the CTRL button in the bottom left corner of your keyboard [might be other places for different computers] and at the same time hit 'C', the two done together copy whatever is blued. CTRL+C. Now it is in MEMORY, the computers, not yours.
Next, come to your post, click your cursor and then hit CTRL+ P which equals PASTE.
Watch, CTRL + C [COPY] and then CTRL +P [PRINT] and VOILA, the URL will be pasted into your post or wherever else you might want to save it or send it in an email to someone.
Composting human remains is a growing funeral industry. It is legal in WA state and maybe CO.
https://www.nbcnews.com › news › us-news › composting-human-bodies-now-legal-washington-state-n1008606
Composting of human bodies now legal in Washington state
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You folks are absolutely amazing. I read a lot but again you are miles above me. I wondered what language you were speaking. That is how far above y'all are. Not too many other comments except from you pros. Again an indication of how PRO you are.
I think I am going to enjoy trying to understand this, NO, some of this!! A etsy bitsy tiny shred of this.
As a complete novice I’ve had to look up definitions frequently but overall it’s been understandable so far.
Just Do It!!, Jeff. Can you, can anyone in your state get a permit to cut timber? Get one. Cut small logs and build a doll house or a larger one you could sell as a super attractive garden shed/ yard storage shed. By the time you have built your tenth one you should have a decent side business selling these and you will be WELL ON YOUR WAY to doing something larger, something someone can live in, maybe not you but someone and you will have taught yourself a large number of VITALLY important lessons and how to timber frame.
By the tenth one you could be building the one on the cover of the book you showed in your post!!!
Matilda Hernandez-Miyares wrote:... . Project was straw-slip packed between dimensional studs, was a good learning process, though I don't think I would use the technique again.
Could you just write a few short thoughts about why you "don't think I would use the technique again", Matilda?
r ranson wrote:In the summer, I do my laundry in the garden so I can use the greywater to water the plants
Does your greywater get any filtration done to it before it waters the plants? Does your laundry use electricity? Do you just run an extension cord? Is the machine covered for whatever rainfall you do get?
Has anyone made/eaten shiokara - salted, fermented squid guts? Prolly hard to get the necessary ingredients. I know it sounds awful but it actually is incredibly delicious. Being a not at all fussy westerner as regards eating new things I just couldn't go there with shiokara for many years in Japan. Then one day I was at one of my favorite Izakaya [bar with small tasty dishes] where they always brought the customers a little food treat/hors d'oeuvre when you arrived, as well as a hot wet little towel to refresh - such service in Japan!!! Anywoo, I gobbled down the always delicious hors d'oeuvre and it was so delicious that I said to the stranger next to me, "suimasen, kore wa, nan desu ka" [Literal: Excuse me, as regards this, what is it?] He says, "shiokara desu".
I just read that it can also be made from not only viscera/guts but also little cut up pieces of meat so I guess that it could also be made from just the squid meat. I wonder if other non asian countries also make this. I believe it is also made in Korea and China as these countries have had each other mixed up in each others business for centuries.
r ranson wrote:In the summer, I do my laundry in the garden so I can use the greywater to water the plants (we have a long summer drought).
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EDIT: There are plastic ones and also stainless steel ones for around the same price in the $15 range.
Found the about 24" x 16" Japanese socks/small items racks, links for Amazon for the canucks like R Ranson and for US permies. These things are fabulous, collapsible, UV does get them over time but mostly just the weaker parts which are the NB parts, the clothespins. So putting the out of UV rays gives more life.
Most of the retractable racks I've met are pretty chintzy. Have you seen pictures of the Japanese-style system? It uses long polls held on a rack. If the ends of the rack were on opposite sides of your walkway, you would install the poles only when they were needed and lean them against some convenient wall when not needed.
I used this system when I lived in Japan. Like many things Japanese, FANTASTIC! The poles stayed permanently outside on a rack that was attached to the house/apato [apartment] so you opened the patio door and there were the poles to hang laundry on.
I have been looking for the plastic hanging things, blue thing on the left side of Jay's pic, since I moved back. Has anyone got one? Does anyone know where to buy such an thing?
Jadie May wrote:My motorhome furnace pushes hot air directly outside. So I want to capture that poor design/lack of insight loss for a hot tub.
Hi, Jadie May. The hot exhaust air is not a very voluminous heat source and collecting said heat would also be a wee bit difficult PLUS one never wants to impair that exhaust flow because that is moving the highly poisonous, as in deadly to humans carbon monoxide out of your motor home.
Jadie May wrote:The real need is for a cool water dunking or sitting pool in 120° summer, so in addition to figuring out how to get the hot air into the water (some way to attach a pipe wrapped in copper tubes?)
This cool pool is going to warm up right quick in 120 F summer heat. If it is cooling pool why add ANY heat. We go from a hot sauna into a mountain river which is about 40F in the Fall. One can easily get used to being in such a temperature to cool a body. Especially when it is 120F outside air temps.
Jadie May wrote:I need to figure out how to clean the water (plants?) so the water (rain harvest is the only source other than delivery) can be used all year long and thus conserved, as I live in a desert.
Hot, sweaty bodies can, in such a climate, make water very stinky very quickly which can lead to all sorts of health concerns. I personally would look at using some type of disinfectant that local swimming pools use.
Ashley Cottonwood wrote:I'm wondering how a rocket design could help with some of the issues I had with my wood heated hot tub.
I bought a house that had one, it was made by the previous owners. It took all day to heat the hot tub, feeding it wood for hours. Once it we brought the water up to temperature, it was easy to 'over heat' and we would then end up adding cold water.
It was hard to hit the "sweet spot" for temperature and it took a lot of wood and a lot of time to heat up!
What you need to have, Ashley, is a cut-off PLUMBING valve from the wood heating source, be it a barrel stove, rocket mass heater or any other wood style heating. It could even be that it is not a total on/off valve but one which allows you to reduce the hottest water to varying volumes while allowing the introduction of some cooling water.
As long as this hot tub/spa has motorized jets, appropriate mixing to ideal temperatures should not take too long.
OF COURSE, the above means that there must be some type of pressure relief valve so that huge pressures NEVER develop in any portion of the water heating system. The old Snorkel stoves were great [never had one] so I don't know how folks handled whatever needed mixing was needed to get to ideal tub water temps.
Anne Miller wrote:I do not see this as the City's problem.
I see a potential for it being at least partially the city [State] to blame, or if there was at developer, as they/whoever ought to have done overall studies to ensure that the ground conditions were okay to meet seviceable conditions for foundations used in that area/city. If this is a very localized problem then someone other than the homeowners bear some responsibility.
I am puzzled as to why a clay layer that far down, topped by gravel, sand, [okay the limestone could "help" transmit heaving pressures] are causing these problems. Are they uniform thru out the housing development? ie. are all house "foundations" being affected? Are all slab on grade or do some have perimeter footings independent of the slabs. My guess is that the live loads [eg. snow] are nonexistent in that climate.
Maybe screw piles could be of some help. Pretty much everywhere in the world has clay.
Literally have a out 2 feet of waste hay on the ground that needs to be cleaned up.
We have a Kubota. However in the past this is fruitless as it is literally in mats. It rolls and impossible to scoop with the loader.
PIGS, PIGS, PIGS, ... !!! The Joel Salatin route as described by Jt Glickman. Joel has deep bedding as in way way deeper than what you got that has been the cows bed all winter. Get some bags of soured corn and then PIGS, PIGS, PIGS, ... !!!
I ONCE shoveled my barn straw, poop, ... out and then saw Joel Salatin video/plan. Nothing and nobody is better than PIGS, PIGS, PIGS, who will leave you with beautiful compost material. I think Joel's stuff was about a yard, as in 3 feet, 36 inches deep. PIGS, PIGS, PIGS, ... work way cheaper than anybody or anything. Trust me!! It works like magic.
Oh, whoever has seen it, do you know what latitude, what comparable climate it has compared to North America?
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Found it! It's near Stockholm which is 59 degrees which has the climate it does because of the proximity to the ocean. In Canada that is roughly the border between BC, prairie provinces and the NWT, Yukon Nunavut arctic territories which is 60 degrees. The climate is vastly different to that of Gracie's BY because no close ocean currents.
Posted 2 years ago and I am so glad it got the bump it did, which I guess is part of the job of the Nicole Aldermans, the Mikes, the Jays, the ...s, thank you all. A neighbor just said this very thing to me last night, he wanted to do a Gracie's even tho' he had never heard of it specifically. I had but tho' I was thrilled too at that time, it went out of my mind, not the concept, just the specific instance.
I sure ain't no expert on maple surple, nor physics but my intuition says mold is light, hence it forms on the top and I'll venture, NOT GUARANTEE, that mold can't mix downward without agitation. But remember, I was wrong once in my life so take this under advisement.
I'm not sure why would one need take this past the temperature that kills mold, okay some few extra degrees [but not necessarily to boiling point] to be on the safe side?
And there is the argument, elucidated here at least once, that it just ain't worth food poisoning. I know that animals and I think that some people can simply upchuck and be okay whereas other people [or just the particular situation] do get food poisoning, which when you think about it, is a misnomer.
denise ra wrote: My concerns are the venting and getting the right slope on things.
I think this is getting overthought. Denise, all you have to do is look on the internet for a picture guide to GLUED pipe fittings. Toilets need BIG PIPE/BIG FITTINGS, all say 4 inch. The names are the same no matter the size of the drain/pipe.
ONLY TWO THINGS TO REMEMBER -
ONE, stick as close to a slope of 1/4" drop per foot for all horizontal runs. Too much slope means water runs faster which CAN cause solids to be left behind which can mean future blockages, POTENTIALLY!. This is especially true for long runs of the heavy solids, aka toilet waste. A tiny house doesn't have long runs.
TWO, Once you get to the venting portions you can forget all about SLOPE because these are ONLY air lines which ensure enough air flow so there is no gurgling.
Your sinks, tubs, ... waste lines can all be 1 1/2" PVC [white] or ABS [black] drainline. Look at the pictures of the fittings and visualize what fitting it is that you need to join the pipes togther with to "snake" your way to the final drop into the main big waste drain line.
Here is an example of what I mean. This pictorial example uses 2" drain line with reducers to join up to the 1 1-2" p-traps on the sinks. You are looking at all the fittings you need to go from your sink to your main 4 inch drainline. It is basically the same thing as learning all the names of a large group of new friends at a large dinner party. "Nice to meet you Ms 2" x 1 1/2" Sanitary Tee".
Draw yourself a picture by standing in front of the wall where the drain line will run. EXAMPLE: Bath sink: 1) 1.5 inch P-trap, 2)
1- 1.5" 90 degree elbow 3) 1- 1.5" x 1.5" by 1.5" sweep 90 degree and you are now running the lavatory wastes into the vertical 1 1/2 inch pipe in the wall behind your sink. Or maybe even the main 4" line, it all depends on the layout which means the FLOOR PLAN.
Same for the kitchen sink which might be on the same wall but opposite to your bath sink. Even go to a Home Depot and pick these fittings up visualizing each plumbing fixture. I can see it all in my mind because I have done it enough times to be able to see it. You can do this too, it will only take you a bit more time. IT IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE, it is only learning the names of a few different plumbing fittings. You CAN even buy a bunch extra and take the ones you don't need back.
As I said, if you give me/us a floor plan we could make a list of the needed fittings, with their NAMES so you could hand it to a Lowe's salesperson. The floor plan can be VERY cursory, you need not be an architect OR a draftswoman. You can cut the plastic pipe with a hand saw, and gluing the fittings/pipe together is child's play. YOU CAN SAVE BIG BUCKS AND HAVE THE SATISFACTION of doing it deniseself!
Glenn Herbert wrote:I suspect that PAHS depends for viability on an area where soil has no groundwater nearby and is well-draining, thus not very conductive; and on being where the average annual temperature is not too low. The earth will equilibrate to the average local air temperature, so PAHS in Alaska is probably doomed unless the entire thermal mass is insulated on all sides, top and bottom.
I am thinking PAHS had some other major issues, Glenn, cause it is like a disappeared see eye eh non favorite persona, I can't seem to find anything recent on it, no discussion at all. I must admit that I haven't exhausted all potential sources. I am gonna ask the DWG people at Univ of Minnesota. I vaguely remember something from somewhere that the UofM did something as regards PAHS.
I did a design for a not-exactly-PAHS industrial/warehouse structure in college about 1979, using water storage tanks buried under/around the building and solar panels to warm the water. I would love to use the PAHS concept for my house, but as there is a constant trickle of water from my foundation drain, I could never get above 55 degrees. I will have to be satisfied with a storage tank in the basement for a drainback system.
This obviously is a MAJOR PROBLEM, the ground cannot be wet and I certainly can't say I know how much wet/damp is tolerable. John Hait seems to suggest that the GeoDome went thru at least one heating season cycle with no external source of heat so something must have worked "right".
Is there a way to ask Paul Wheaton if he ever did any followup on the Missoula GeoDome?
Thanks for your response, Carl. Those are wood framed, right?
So far, I am not convinced that their current design is able to store enough heat during the summer, so the indoor temperature is trying to return to a baseline that is too cool to be comfortable.
The thing that puzzles me is how it all just died. Did John Hait get sued or something? Was ther ever any other testing done besides what he said he did on the Missoula GeoDome?
To Paul Wheaton: Did you ever do any followup to your above mentioned article? Do people still use and live in the Missoula GeoDome?
I think the idea is sound. Thermal mass does work. I remember a cathedral in Sweden that was built with walls so massive that in the summer a torrent of cool air came pouring out of it even though they left the doors open all day. In the winter it was supposedly warm inside, but I suspect that "warm" is relative. When you step in out of a snow storm, 55F feels pretty nice. Soil has a sine-curved temperature graph - with the peaks and valleys converging with depth until you hit the stable ground temperature at 30ish feet down. If you want to change the amplitude of that graph, you are going to have to force more energy into the system, and then likely use insulation to keep it there. I think using as much winter solar gain as possible is likely key.
To me it is a fascinating idea. I am more interested in trying to cool an underground space for food storage, but the principle is the same. Air is not capable of carrying very much energy relative to soil, so I suspect that to significantly change the temperature of even a moderately sized underground space would take a LOT of airflow.
My take on what the Hait book said was that because the Earth heat sink was insulated and "kept dry" with the many layers of overlapped poly that the house with its uninsulated walls became the heat exchanger which went two different directions depending on the outside season.
I am guessing that the reason you dont see more of this being done is simply cost and complexity of building anything underground. If you build a tight structure on the surface with r-60 insulation all around and heat exchanging air ventilation, you could probably keep it comfortable inside with waste heat (cooking, electric devices and body heat) in a modestly mild climate.
You could well be right, Carl. And actually trying to control such a huge expanse of Earth to keep it dry, the crucial thing, may well be something beyond our capability. But again, I am just wondering about the silence regarding the process and the houses that were built. I called one engineer who still had something on the Net, asked for him and a lady asked who was calling. I explained and she said he had died ten years ago. I stumbled with copious apologies and left the conversation still as ignorant about where this sits as a few weeks ago when I started wondering. If anyone has any further info on this, did any universities do anything, is John Hait still alive, ... I'd like to know.
Blue Naomi Sky wrote:Looking at building a 12x24 cabin next year and I want to use the wood I have on the property. Wondering what species will work, which are better than others, any to definitely NOT use? My forest is mainly Beech, Red Maple, Balsam Fir, Hemlock, Cherry, and Spruce.
To give you a better idea of what my first post tries to explain, Naomi [cool name], I live in a 20 x 20 foot shack. My shack sits on 3 sets of 2 ply beams [2x10]. There is a crawl space and each beam is supported by 16"x16" mobile home footings, which are 2x4s 16 inches long nailed cross hatched to create load bearing pads. With the beams securely attached to these pads.
My floor joists are 2x6 SPF [spruce/pine/fir] which span about 10 feet from the outside "beam" to my center support "beam", then the same on the other side. The pad is a sand covered piece of earth and the beam bearing pads are not preserved in any fashion, they just don't get rain/moisture to them because the earth is sloped away from the crawl space and any wee bits of moisture that COULD get in, DRAIN AWAY thru the SAND. We have about a 35 PSF snow load in my area. The roof is one slope from the high 17 foot front wall to the 8 foot back wall. There is a center line 2 ply- 2x10 SPF beam at the ceiling so the roof joists are also just 2x6 SPF, which have just a tad longer span than 10 feet because of the slope.
This is, of course, the easiest roof to build for folks who are not good framers. Do an overhang, 2 feet at least, [on the downhill slope to move water away from the house/foundation.
I did the high ceiling/sloped roof to give my small shack a feeling of greater spaciousness and later I also added a 10' x 10' 2nd floor/loft for another sleeping area and more storage. When it's super cold my horses like to come in and cuddle on this warm "second floor". It took a bit to get them used to the vertical ladder but they learned to push each other up and the last one shares my bed with me and my cat. Outside the sheets!!
Blue Naomi Sky wrote:Looking at building a 12x24 cabin next year and I want to use the wood I have on the property. Wondering what species will work, which are better than others, any to definitely NOT use? My forest is mainly Beech, Red Maple, Balsam Fir, Hemlock, Cherry, and Spruce.
A lot of things depend on where you live, eg, are there termites. Good building practices [GBPs] should make rotting a NON-ISSUE as long as you follow GBPs. What type of foundation will you do? Are you in a cold area where frost heave could be a problem? Slab on grade or wood floor?
Are you in an area with big snow loads? If not anyone of those trees would be fine. Use a span table available from any state agencies/national building code for framing for your area for cut and planed 2 by material, eg, 2x6, 2x8, ... , the kind of lumber that is available at your local Home Depot, Lowes, ... .
If cut 2 by X material will carry the loads you anticipate then the full rounds will carry even greater loads. What are the diameters of some of your trees? All of those species will be fine for vertical loads, eg. as posts/columns, walls and dividers.
What is the diameter of your trees? The only real crucial factor is for the roof loads which you will likely want to be clear span to have as open a floor space as possible. With the roof slope going the 12 foot way the rafters really do not have much load to carry [again depending on local snow loads!!] The span tables/rafter tables will delineate what you will need for whatever snow load your area has. Same for your floor joists, you'll likely shoot for a 40 PSF floor load, which, AGAIN, for only a 12 foot span you don't need much big size lumber. Are you going to try mill these these into 2 by X boards/material or try to use all roundwood for the framing?
denise ra wrote:I'm building a relatively simple tiny house in a rural area. I suggest if you're going to build in the sticks / in the boonies / in BFE that you have the skills or have asked around to find if there are any competent trades people willing to come to your abode. Neither of these options is true in my case. Therefore, I need to learn to plumb. Is there a straightforward book that will keep me out of trouble? You know, gurgling pipes, poop that doesn't flow to the septic tank, p traps that let smells come in the house, ... There will be no plumbing inspection as there is no inspector and there is no planning department so I'm not accountable to anyone except myself; and I would like it to be done right so as to cause no problems down the road. So far, I have found hammerpedia.com which is great for bathroom plans; looks to me like it completely describes everything you would need to plumb any one of 17 different bathroom plans, as far as I can tell.
But, in addition to a bathroom which is only a toilet and a shower, I will have a washing machine and a kitchen sink. So since I don't know anything about venting or pipe sizing etc guidance to a plumbing book or website for new construction would be appreciated.
Have you got this all worked out, Denise? A floor plan would help and I could give you a list of all the things you need including what ABS/PVC fittings you need. Venting is very easy but it's best to keep all or as many plumbing fixtures sharing a wall, back to back. Which will allow you to keep the number of stacks exiting the roof.
Does/will this tiny house have a crawl space? Will it have an attic which is nice for joining up vent pipes so only ONE NEED EXIT THE HOUSE. Even without an attic one can frame in vent stacks/cover them with nice lumber/board hoarding so they don't de-beautify your beautiful tiny house.
I have/possess and just recently reread the John Hait book [2013 edition] Passive Annual Heat Storage. I have been doing further research, looking and it seems to have just died. I came across a Paul Wheaton article which I had also seen a few year ago, link below.
Does anyone know what has happened to this idea, to John Hait, ... is there anyone still pursuing this? Are the houses that have been built still being used, still functioning after all these years, according to the initial plan? To me these seem ideal to RMHs.
